*Twitch*

[Lioness]

*twitches violently*

My dad bought be books for Christmas. Excellent. He knows what I like (ignoring the actual content of the books, which is far from ideal)

However, he wrote an inscription inside each front cover.

A messy, middle-blue pen, handwritten inscription. Telling me how useful each book will be in my years to come, and how much he enjoyed them.

I hate inscriptions. They deface the book, and just, gah. How can you scribble inside something, so blatantly, so uncaringly?

How does one get middle-blue pen off of the inside of a book cover without applying white-out, or some other drastic measure.

[SilverSheriff]

they don't...

[raitalin]

Ummm, I don't mean to be judgmental, but this is your Dad's attempt to add something personal to the gift, something to let you know how much thought he put into it and something to remind you that he cares...the books are one of thousands of copies, the inscriptions are one of a kind.

[Atelm]

Ummm, I don't mean to be judgmental, but this is your Dad's attempt to add something personal to the gift, something to let you know how much thought he put into it and something to remind you that he cares...the books are one of thousands of copies, the inscriptions are one of a kind.

This, rather than the gift it's the thought behind it that should count the most.

[Boo]

Unless you're planning to sell them at a later date I don't see your problem clearly. Yes, he wrote on them. Yes, it was messy. You probably hate it when people deface a book, but it doesn't sound like he did it in any way that got on the content itself, but just behind the front cover. This is so the book has, y'know, meaning. Of course, no one cares about that stuff anymore. Nope. People only care about resale value nowadays.

[Lioness]

I know it probably sounds like I'm not appreciating the thought behind it. I am, but it wasn't particularly a very personal message. It was about what he might've put on a Christmas card, if he had bothered to get one. One of them was

'The challenge of a parent is to introduce and expose you to ideas and paradigms that will assist you in the challenge of life. Read and learn'

[drakir_nosslin]

I wouldn't remove it either. There may come a day when he's not around any longer, and then all those small things are worth a lot more than a perfect, white page.
And to be honest, I have no idea of how to get it off either without spoiling the page.
Just leave it there, that's my advice.

[Ichneumon]

If he wanted to give the gift something personal, he could have written the inscription on a seperate note and leave it inside. This just devalues the book and looks ugly.

[Solaris]

I wouldn't remove it either. There may come a day when he's not around any longer, and then all those small things are worth a lot more than a perfect, white page.
And to be honest, I have no idea of how to get it off either without spoiling the page.
Just leave it there, that's my advice.

Ditto. Were you my daughter, I'd be upset that me writing notes on books I gave you for Christmas (maybe he's not that good at writing touchy-feely stuff so it sounds kinda generic to you, but you know him better than I do) upset you that much.
Appreciate the gift, appreciate the sentiment, and move on. I love books as much as the next guy, and it does bother me if someone writes in 'em ('cept for the old AD&D books, back when they used good paper rather than that glossy crap), but this seems kinda... well, trite.

[Boo]

I know it probably sounds like I'm not appreciating the thought behind it. I am, but it wasn't particularly a very personal message. It was about what he might've put on a Christmas card, if he had bothered to get one. One of them was

'The challenge of a parent is to introduce and expose you to ideas and paradigms that will assist you in the challenge of life. Read and learn'

So he wants to leave you with something to think about. Like drakir said, "There may come a day when he's not around any longer". My dad reminds me of this almost every day. It's annoying, but a truth. Once they're gone you'll want to keep what they've given you (unless you're completely detached). If he wants to leave you with something that sounds kinda cheesy, but shows his mind and love, I say let him!

In fact, this is much better than a simple card since most of those are prewritten. Even if he stole this from something, which he may not have, it shows that he cares about you and wants you to go far in life.

@^^: :smallsigh:

[Zincorium]

You don't get to write all over gifts just because you're going to die at some point.

I refuse to justify other people's actions when I couldn't justify doing them myself, and this falls into that category. Granted, we go through books extremely quickly in my family, and we usually give boxes of books to the library as donations. A book isn't something you hang onto forever, for me, and when you give it to somebody else (a gift, a 'loan' to a friend, whatever) do you really want some random stuff on the cover?

In any case- there already exist a great many ways to give people heartfelt messages that don't involve permanently altering something you're giving them.

[Solaris]

You don't get to write all over gifts just because you're going to die at some point.

I refuse to justify other people's actions when I couldn't justify doing them myself, and this falls into that category. Granted, we go through books extremely quickly in my family, and we usually give boxes of books to the library as donations. A book isn't something you hang onto forever, for me, and when you give it to somebody else (a gift, a 'loan' to a friend, whatever) do you really want some random stuff on the cover?

In any case- there already exist a great many ways to give people heartfelt messages that don't involve permanently altering something you're giving them.

Like giving them money and a card, right? He might have thought the book just a bit more permanent a possession than you do. The man didn't have to give anything.

[Lioness]

My boyfriend managed to give me a pretty heartfelt message in a card. I keep his cards, purely because he always writes something so nice.

I guess writing in books is just a pet peeve of mine. Whether it is annotating a library book or giving a personal message, it annoys me.

[Solaris]

My boyfriend managed to give me a pretty heartfelt message in a card. I keep his cards, purely because he always writes something so nice.

I guess writing in books is just a pet peeve of mine. Whether it is annotating a library book or giving a personal message, it annoys me.

And I understand. Believe me, I do. It's almost sacriligious to write in a book.
That said, can you see what we're getting at here?

[Lioness]

And I understand. Believe me, I do. It's almost sacriligious to write in a book.
That said, can you see what we're getting at here?

I can definitely see what you're getting at. I feel right stupid for even starting this, and I sort of want to go hide under a rock.

[Solaris]

I can definitely see what you're getting at. I feel right stupid for even starting this, and I sort of want to go hide under a rock.

Eh, don't worry about it. Everyone sticks their feet in their mouths at some point or another.

[Hadessniper]

I always liked when people inscribed books. It feels much more substantial then a greeting card, and books tend to be kept for much longer. Also in a hundred years someone might come across that book and will be able to see your fathers love for you. If the book was a $150 deluxe leather bound edition and the note was in a particularly messy chicken scratch I can see being a little miffed, but otherwise I think it's sweet.

[SilverSheriff]

I wouldn't mind someone writing a note in a book, in fact I'd welcome the idea. My family keep books around longer than everything else (Including each other), so a simple note written in a $10-$50 book would just be a small little reminder of the good times we once had...:smallannoyed:

[Boo]

I can definitely see what you're getting at. I feel right stupid for even starting this, and I sort of want to go hide under a rock.

Well don't. People have their pet-peeves, most (yours included) are justified. I, personally, don't much care about condition of books as long as they're readable. I don't enjoy seeing writing in a book either, but I understand most cases (this thread and authorized signatures like that of a friend's or the author)

Writing in textbooks is my greatest pet-peeve. People having scribbled in them (small notes in pencil don't bug me) and when there are actual mistakes inside those SCHOOL APPROVED texts. I write in my textbooks to fix errors like those. While listening to the Editors.

If it helps you any, think of your father's note as if it were a personal note from the author themself telling you to "Read and learn".

EDIT: >> If someone just wrote the words "Read and learn" in a book and gave it to me... I'd be pissed. Good thing that was out of context. >>

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Back to the problem at hand.

Can't get the ink out.

Best to ignore it if it bothers you.

[bluewind95]

I can see why it'd bug you. And yeah, you can't take it out.

Personally, though... if my dad wrote me a note on a book and signed it, I'd quite like it. It'd be a book autographed by my dad, which I'd see as very neat.

[Kneenibble]

You know what I find quite funny? Presuming there was a way to remove the message without damaging the book, just imagine your dad finding out one day. That would be a slap in the ol' face.

The only thing I could imagine is to soak that single page in distilled water, the way archivists clean paper, hanging in a pan with the rest of the book folded up out of the way (though you'd probably have to break the spine) and spot-apply some gentle solvent so the pen ink would bleed off but the printed ink wouldn't.

I don't seem to understand why it bothers you so much, but no judgement. I write in my own books (I like the desacralization of The Work into an involved process, a text) but never library books. At my uni's library in the copy of Timothy Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage, some idiot went through and corrected all these imaginary syntax errors that aren't actually errors and left little snarky notes and exclamation marks about it. :smallfurious:

[Rutskarn]

At my uni's library in the copy of Timothy Findley's Not Wanted on the Voyage, some idiot went through and corrected all these imaginary syntax errors that aren't actually errors and left little snarky notes and exclamation marks about it. :smallfurious:

It's not that he's defaced it, is it? It's that he was so willfully, cockily wrong, was so public and blatant about it, and there is no way you will ever be able to set him straight.

I'd almost suggest counternotes as the only available form of warfare.

[AtomicKitKat]

Maybe because about 1/4 of my books are hand-me-downs from my elder cousin, or uncles, I've kind of learned to just skip through the "notes for the upcoming test on this book" bits and read the text. Now, torn pages, those annoy me no end. And on my part, I have given at least 1 online friend a book with a personal(if semi-rambling) note on the first blank page(most modern books have at least a single sheet of paper that's blank on both sides just before the title page, I presume just for this purpose). I also included a couple of "springs" made from construction paper(turned out they didn't stabilise it as well as I thought), as the box supplied by the post-office was a little too large for the book. :smalltongue: Still, she appreciated the thought and effort, even though the book was on sale(which was part of the reason I bought a second one to give to her).

[Coidzor]

There's not a whole lot of options.

Inscriptions are sort of a tradition anyway. Adds character. Just like when you make notes in the margins.

Though unfortunately you probably aren't going to be finding a better way to get the desired results of a chemistry lab to record in your chem book for posterity.

If it's something embarrassing that you don't want others being able to read over your shoulder or something, I believe book covers can be had/fabricated that'll cover up most-to-all of that inside cover area.

[Kneenibble]

It's not that he's defaced it, is it? It's that he was so willfully, cockily wrong, was so public and blatant about it, and there is no way you will ever be able to set him straight.

I'd almost suggest counternotes as the only available form of warfare.

Yes, you understand. That's exactly it.

He'd never read the counternotes! The satisfaction that someone else might check the book out and go "yes. It's less irritating with these counternotes," is no peanut, but still.

[Gaelbert]

I'm a neatfreak about my books. I cannot bring myself to read a book that has a page torn out of it, because I will never know what I missed in those pages. Dog earing pages send me flying into a rage that is hardly representative of the actual misdeed. And I hate it when books get creases on the spine because they were left laying spread out. I've never been able to bring myself to underline or write notes in books, even when it would be very, very useful.
I'm thinking of becoming a librarian.

[FoE]

Burn the books. That'll definitely get rid of the inscriptions.

[Zanaril]

Burn the books. That'll definitely get rid of the inscriptions.

But what about the ashes?

[Quincunx]

The ashes are scattered over the physical plant of a vanity press, native habitat of the person who feels his words are weighty enough to be immortalized in a professionally bound, unalterable, undying, sacred book. Benediction or malediction? I don't know. They're just ashes. My intuition of sympathetic magic doesn't stretch to a belief that the essence of an item is retained after it's been changed into another item (paper to ashes, soil to plant, food to. . .energy. . .).

*****

There may be an argument for excising the page with an x-acto blade, framing it, and displaying it publicly 'instead of shutting it away in a book which'll just become dusty'. How much emotional pain are you willing to inflict to counter the emotional pain of the writing being placed where it was? Will the book still be defaced without its half-cover? Does the combination of not-quite-suitable book with not-quite-respectful inscription remind you accurately of your blood?

[Ponce]

Inscribing on the cover of the book is a huge pet peeve for many bibliophiles. Unfortunately, there's really no way to remove the ink, as far as I know.

[RabbitHoleLost]

I love my books. I never, ever give them away, unless its to someone I love or I rather disliked the books.
Nonetheless, if someone gives me a book, I ask them to leave an inscription on it. Cards are...hm, sort of a petpeeve of mine. Very much commercialism.
Notes from my lovers, my family, my friends make books my own. There are thousands and millions of copies of some books, and my own are just the same as anyone else's.
Unless there's a little intimate note from my boyfriend, or a rather amusing comment from a friend, or a reminder of love from my father.
Then, and only then, is it my own.

Also, I love going to used bookstores and peering through the books to find inscriptions. Its like reading into someone else's life =)

[Ripped Shirt Kirk]

Obligatory Link. (http://xkcd.com/280/)

[Lioness]

Obligatory Link. (http://xkcd.com/280/)

AAARRRRGH

No! The book!

That's just cruel.

[Dragonrider]

I actually write my name on the inside of the cover of all my books because a) I know I'm not giving them away (and I love that I have some books with my mother's name on the inside cover, written in childish print in the '70s - I imagine I'll love it even more after she dies :smalltongue:) and because I have three brothers, the name marks the book as MINE and if they try to suggest differently . . . :smalltongue: Also, if people borrow my books they'll know to whom they belong.

[Devils_Advocate]

The thing about irreversible change is that you can't undo it. You can only increase it. Such is the nature of irreversibility.

So, if there's a way to restore the books to look like new, then they haven't been permanently defaced in the first place. And if they have been permanently defaced, then there's no way to remove the inscriptions without damaging the books.

Maybe it's just me, but that whole situation strikes me as sort of zen or something. Perhaps you should meditate upon this states of affairs in hopes of achieving enlightenment.